Copyright: (C) 1996-1997 Visio Corporation
Citation: (C) 1996-1997 Visio Corporation


Directional Map Template

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To create a directional map:

1.	Establish the route structure by dropping road, metro, and railroad track shapes on the drawing page.

2.	Add landmarks, such as lakes and rivers, and buildings or other structures. Edit the shapes as needed.

3.	Label roads and other shapes.

4.	Add scale and directional indicators.

5.	Add written directions.

6.	Use formatting to refine the look of the map.

Setting road thickness

You can set the thickness of road or metro line shapes to thin, standard, or thick. You can also specify a custom thickness.

To change the relative thickness for all road and metro shapes in a diagram at once:

1.	Make sure no shapes are selected, then right-click the drawing page.

2.	Choose Shape > Custom Properties.

3.	Type a value for the thickness of thin roads.

Visio makes the thickness of standard and thick roads multiples of this value.

To set the thickness of an individual road or metro line shape:

1.	Select the shape, then right-click it.

2.	From the shortcut menu, choose the thickness you want. Or choose Custom, then type a value.

Using colored roads

If you want colored roads instead of black ones, use the metro line shapes to represent roads.

 Making hairpin curves and winding roads

You can use the Flexible Road or Flexible Metro shapes to draw curvy roads or metro lines, but the freeform tool offers even greater flexibility. The freeform tool works like a pencil on paper, and you can revise curves drawn with it.

See also:

Drawing shapes

 Indicating scale and direction

The drawing scale for the Directional Map Template is set at 1:1, so maps aren't drawn to scale by default. You can provide an approximate scale, however, by dropping the Scale shape on the page and adding numbers. Use the Direction or North shapes to orient your map's users.

See also:

Setting drawing scales

 Directional maps and layers

A layer is a named category of shapes. When shapes are assigned to separate layers, you can edit the shapes separately. For example, you can hide or lock all layers except the one you want to work on or you can print shapes based on their layer assignments. You can also generate numeric or inventory reports for shapes on particular layers.

In a directional map, you can place road and metro shapes on one layer and structures, trees, and lakes on another, then lock the road and metro layer to avoid inadvertently altering the routes while adding structures and natural landmarks.

See also:

About layers

Placing Visio drawings on the World Wide Web

You can easily convert a Visio drawing to a format Web browsers can read. Then you can distribute the drawing on an intranet or the Web.

See also:

Exporting shapes and drawings in .jpg or .gif format

Saving drawings as HTML pages


Setting road thickness

Using colored roads

Making hairpin curves and winding roads

Indicating scale and direction

Directional maps and layers

Placing Visio drawings on the World Wide Web